The Photobooth Theory
by NegativeDoubleD
Summary: Imagine Ed, Edd, and Eddy. Now, imagine those kids making an inter-planetary and time traveling adventure. That's what I got in store.
1. The Crash

Early night at Peach Creek. The birds were quiet, all was still. The only signs that life was being sustained were the lights in the window of Sarah's house (Jimmy was sleeping over, and she was reading him his favorite story). What a peaceful scene.

But when the Eds are in the neighborhood, it can't last for too long. So, as if on cue:

"ASTRONOMY LESSONS, ONLY 25 CENTS! GET 'EM WHILE THE NIGHT IS YOUNG!"

The night was no longer silent. Groans were heard from every house, except for Jonny's and Rolf's.

"Cool, Astronomy! Maybe we'll see aliens, Plank!

"Astronomy? The Great Nano would approve of this, yes?"

The two fools walked slowly to the woods, past the models of the moon and planets, and to a small clearing with five telescopes set up, along with a huge banner which bore the message: Astronomy Lessons 25 cents. The shortest Ed saw them approaching, and ran to the smartest Ed.

"Hey, I didn't think this'd work, Double D!" Eddy whispered to Edd, grinning broadly.

"See, Eddy? Education can be fun if you approach it the right way!" Edd beamed.

"Cool! I can see a colony of hair people on the surface of Mercury!" called Ed.

"Monobrow, you've got your hand in front of the lens!" Eddy snapped, slapping the lovable oaf on his head. "Get outta the way, we got customers!"

The foreign child began to observe the telescopes intently, while the bald kid was running around yelling nonsense.

"Woohoo! We get to look at aliens! Aliens! This is great, Plank. Huh? We need to use the telescopes? This sure is fancy, Plank!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, Jonny. Now, pay up! That is if you wanna see the aliens." Eddy laughed. He held out his hand, and Jonny gave him not one quarter, but two.

"What the-? Why two?" he asked

"Plank wants a lesson." Jonny explained as though pieces of wood paid for Astronomy lessons all the time.

"Oh…Well, Rolfie-boy, how about you?" Eddy asked, whirling around to see where the son-of-a-shepherd was.

"Eddy, Rolf already paid. He gave his quarter to me." whispered Double D.

"Oh, well in that case: HAND IT OVER, AND GET TO THE LESSONS, SOCKHEAD!" Eddy yelled in Double D's ear.

"Ow! Alright, alright." Edd said as he gave Eddy the quarter. Edd moved across the clearing to two telescopes. "Jonny! Rolf! Over here, please!"

The two boys walked over to the telescopes, which appeared gray in the lack of light; even though they knew they were white. In fact, these looked very familiar…just like the ones at school…

"Hey! These are the school telescopes!" Jonny cried.

"Yes, they are, but we asked permission to use them, I assure you. Now, we have a few types of lessons: Stars, Planets, and Moons. Now, which would you like to do?" Double D questioned.

"I believe that the Great Nano would approve of the stars, yes?" Rolf said to no one in particular.

"Plank and me wanna look at the planets! We could see-." Jonny said

"Yeah, yeah aliens." Eddy said from the entrance. He was already annoyed and Jonny had only been there for 2 minutes.

"I assure you; aliens have not been proven so far. Anyways, here are a few star charts." Double D said as he passed out the star and planet charts. "Now, Jonny, that red dot right there is Mars, one of the closest planets to Earth. It was named after the Roman god of war, probably because war was connected to blood. Now, I could go into deeper detail about mythology, but I think we should focus on Mars for now. So, I want you to point your telescope at Mars, and sketch it here on the chart. Now, I gotta go to Rolf."

The smartest Ed walked over to the blue-haired boy and set up his telescope to look at the sun.

"Now, do not look into that telescope without these on," Double D said as he pulled out a pair of sunglasses.

"What are these, sock-on-the-head Ed-boy?" Rolf questioned.

"Those, Rolf, are sunglasses. They are used to reflect light away from your eyes. They were invented in-."

"No, no, Ed-boy, those flying specks of light in the night sky!" Rolf shouted

"Oh! Meteors! What a coincidence, I wonder where they are going to land?" Edd gasped. At this point, Eddy was paying attention. Suddenly, his instinct and intelligence(there wasn't a lot) simultaneously realized a crucial fact.

"They're going to crash RIGHT HERE!" Eddy screamed. "Everybody, OUT! Ed, get the telescopes!" Everyone did as Eddy asked, and just in time. The meteors, about 3 or 4 crashed at the spots where the telescopes previously stood.

"Oh my freaking GAWD!" Eddy screamed, as he cleared the smoke. Anyone who could see Eddy copied him. When the smoke was gone, all was silent and still. Until Sarah tackled Ed.

"ED! What's the idea making an explosion at 10:00 at night?" she screamed. By then, all members of the cul-de-sac had gathered by the clearing full of meteors.

"Yeah, dorks, you were yelling about Astronomy lessons. When do you look at stars, and your stargazing ground explodes?" Kevin said angrily, brandishing the baseball bat in his hand.

"When cool meat eaters crash on it!" Ed announced a grin on his face.

"What the-?" Kevin walked closer to the clearing. "The dork's right! There's about 3 or 4 meteors here." All of the kids walked closer to the small canyon that the meteors had made.

"Wait! What kind of meteors do THAT?" Edd yelled, panicking. For, when he glimpsed the stellar rocks, they were glowing a silver color. Also, they were shaped like diamonds, with little prickles on the lower ends, and those pricks were growing into thorns. Immediately, everyone backed away from the meteors.

"I have a bad feeling about this. How about we each take turns sleeping and watching the meteors. But first…" Double D ran out of the clearing and returned about a minute later, holding his microscope.

"I'll just need a sample from this…" he said, grabbing for his scalpel. He shredded off a sliver of the rock, and placed it on a slide, which he slid under the microscope.

"Oh, I need a light source. Eddy, could you hold that tiny flashlight of yours right…here?" Double D asked, pointing to a spot about an inch from the mirror.

"Uh…sure, whatever." Eddy replied, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out his lucky flashlight, the one he'd had since he was 3, and clicked it on, pointing directly at the mirror.

"Ah, excellent. Hmm…these rocks are definitely not rocks. This sample I took would've taken a longer time to cut if it was a regular space rock. Hmm…I think these are plantlike creatures, I can see small silver like things moving around in it. Oh wait…keeping watch. Oh, Rolf, can you please keep first watch? Then Kevin, Sarah, Ed, Eddy, Jonny, Nazz, and then me."

"What about cry-baby Jimmy, yes?" Rolf asked, a confused look on his face.

"Well, if I'm right, Jimmy should be-." Double D began.

"He's under my bed, hiding." Sarah said with a wave of her hand.

"Alright then. Rolf, could you please begin your shift?" Double D asked politely from his microscope. "I'll probably need to check some data for a little while."

That night, few slept. Well, then again, how could you when you had seen aliens appear outside of your house? The only people who slept were those who believed _this_ to be a dream, and wanted to wake up at a normal day. Jonny (and supposedly Plank) didn't sleep at all, but because "It was so cool that aliens came to Earth!" Kevin didn't sleep either, but mainly because Nazz was scared. The others waited until it was their shift, but mainly just watched Edd study the sliver of meteorite or the trail of smoke that the meteorites caused. The night went on for what seemed like forever, until Edd finally stood up with a final look on his face.

"Well, it's my shift. I think I've found out a good amount of data about the aliens. Could you all please wake those who are still sleeping?" he said politely. They did so, and the few kids who were asleep came to.

"Okay, now. These aliens are plantlike, as I said earlier. There are small, chlorophyll-like organelles in each cell, only these ones are silver. Also, these creatures seem to be hydrogen based, just like we are nitrogen based. These-erm- seeds I traced to a far off area in outer space, possibly farther than Neptune. In about a month, we should be able to see the planet. Now, based off of this information, I have an idea of what the planetoid or planet should look like. If you give me a few minutes…"Double D ranted and trailed off, grabbing some paper and a pencil. After about a full hour, he turned around.

"Now, this planet is most likely bigger than our sun. I'm not sure about elements such as nitrogen and oxygen, or anything about water, but it would seem that these seeds need a very strong light source in order to sprout. Because of that, I believe that this planet is very close to a large sun. Now, on the other side of this paper, I drew what I believe to be germination to the seed, which I believe, happens the moment sunlight hits it. So… It is about 5:59. The sun should come up in 3…2…1!"

At the moment that Edd said "1", the sun began to rise over the horizon. But that wasn't the kids' concern. They're concern was towards the seeds, which, at that very moment had began to move. The small spikes on the bottom of the seeds began to grow deeper, as though rooting them in place. Also, the tops of the seeds were opening, and inside were things almost indescribable. They could only be described as tentacles, clumped together in the shape of the seed.

"OH MY **FREAKING GAWD!**" screamed Eddy, running around like a maniac. The other kids were on levels of hysteria, Nazz, screaming and running home, Kevin rubbing his eyes like it wasn't real, Jonny, running around and yelling "Alien plants!" over and over, Ed had his eyes bulging and muttering something about "the Invaders of Planet Kremlin", Sarah was running home, Rolf was running home screaming "The Great Nano is displeased!", and Edd was sitting on a log looking bored. Wait a minute…Bored?

Yes, bored, as he believed this to have happened. He waited for about five minutes when 4 other kids remained, and told them to be still.

"Alright, alright." Edd said calmly "Now, we all know that we have just been invaded by aliens. But, what we need to figure out is whether or not they come in peace."


	2. The Visitor

The boys ran out to the junkyard, although there was no threat. The tentacles, stiff and straight did nothing, although the one in the center was growing rapidly…almost as though it could grow too big…

The boys arrived at the junkyard and Edd called them to attention.

"Kevin, hold diamond military formation…NOW!" Edd shouted. Kevin didn't know that much more than how to hurt people, funny nicknames and bikes, but he knew about military formations because of his brother.

"Hey, guys! Eddy, stand here. Ed, here. Jonny, right there." He shouted at his position. The boys did as the cap-wearing leader had told them, fast. In two seconds, the boys had formed a tallest to shortest diamond. Edd walked over to a raised area in front of the diamond, which was actually a mostly buried car.

"Now, as we all know, we need a tester to enter the danger zone and check if our visitors are friendly or hostile." he said. "I know none of you will volunteer. So, we need a way to find a tester. We need…a useless person. Wait…" He thought for a moment, until he snapped his fingers and turned. "Plank." Then he slapped his head. How could he think of testing the board? He was acting way too stupid.

"Hey, how's about those Kanker sisters, Sockhead?" Eddy said, obviously bored.

"That's it!" Double D said, slapping Eddy on the back. "Nobody likes them much, we all know that. So, we just need to make a way for them to test the aliens. Unfortunately, Eddy, Ed, it'll cause us major discomfort if the aliens are friendly. Either way we have to try." The boys put their heads together and began to speak in whispers, which was always a sign of a plan. And the boys definitely had one.

The Eds walked to the Kankers' door, sweating profusely. Well of course they were. They would have to do unspeakable things with the Kankers if the aliens were friendly. They skittered to the door of the old trailer and knocked. No answer. They knocked again. Still no answer.

"Sockhead, where are they?" Eddy asked impatiently. Edd hesitated. He had no idea.

"Ummm…maybe they're…" But he didn't finish. For at that moment, a strange looking squirrel scampered through a bush. The squirrel wasn't normal looking. Its skin was a light gray, with a silvery glow. The coloration was also off. Instead of a brown color, it was a sky blue…the exact opposite of brown…

"It's as though the pigments turned negative, like when you take a photo…" Edd observed, frowning. "Maybe…no…they aren't _that_ idiotic. Then again…"

"Either tell us what you're thinking, or shut up." Eddy said with a wave of his hand.

"I was thinking that…that…the Kanker sisters heard the crash, then the screaming, and went to investigate, so the aliens…attacked them, like that squirrel. Our test might have already been completed." Edd stated slowly, a quizzical look on his face.

"Wait, so our icky-smoochy Kanker enemies have been possessed by aliens?" Ed questioned with a look of terror on his face. "This is just like a comic book I read, it was so cool!"

"Wait, so did these events happen _exactly _like the events that have been happening?" Edd asked, curious.

"Sort of. Instead if us, it was a few superheroes. And their sidekicks were the ones who were possessed." Ed said with a look of intense concentration upon his face.

"Alright. So, what did the superheroes do next?" Ed asked

"I dunno. I was making noises when I was reading it, so Sarah ripped it up." Ed remembered with a depressed look on his face.

"Well, that helped, Monobrow!" Eddy yelled, trying to attack his dumb friend.

"No, don't do that, Eddy!" Edd whispered while waving his hands around. "We have visitors!" That caught everyone's attention. Because Double D was right, there were a few dark shapes coming up the trail to the trailer lot. As the mysterious figures drew closer, they were revealed to be the Kanker sisters, but altered just like the squirrel. All of them had gray skin, with the silvery glow. But their outfits had been tampered with farther. May's hair was no longer blonde, but a deep blue. Her shirt was a dark gray, and her pants were a cyan color. Marie had orange hair, purple pants, and a white vest. Lee, the leader of this terrible trio had light blue hair, a black and cyan spotted vest, and orange pants. It formed an odd image in front of the normal looking trees and bushes.

"Hello, boys…how do you like our new look?" spoke Lee. Her voice was less raspy, like she hadn't yelled for years. That was definitely a bad sign. "We found out that this is the new look for everywhere. And we found a salon where they give you this makeup for free…Wanna come?"

"Ummm…no...thanks…" Edd muttered. He needed to find a way to classify this. It could be minor…major…minor…

"You must come with us! This new look needs to be shared!" May exclaimed, her voice no longer annoying, but more soothing. Double D was starting to think this was becoming a major threat.

"Okay, I'll tell you girls this real slow…WE…DON'T…WANT…TO…COME!" Eddy positively shouted at the girls. Edd was formulating a crafty escape plan, but how to get the others to execute it at the moment of exact precision was beyond him. Wait…that could work…just need to wait for the moment of precision…

"You guys are coming with us, no questions asked!" Marie snapped, her voice no longer disgusted, but pleased. At that moment, the three sisters moved in to grab the boys.

"RUN AWAY!" Edd yelled, while snatching up Lee Kanker by her waist. Man that was a terrible execution of escape. "Ed! Take Lee to my garage! Let's get out of here!" Kevin had already left, Eddy right on his tail. Jonny was running around in a circle, unsure of what to do, as he had just dropped Plank near the Kankers. Ed picked up on the plan rather quickly, taking Lee from Edd and stuffing her in his pocket. Edd ran away closely followed by Ed and Lee. Jonny, however wasn't so lucky. He had chosen to rescue Plank, but sacrificed himself to the Kanker sisters. May and Marie grabbed him and Plank and walked towards the clearing filled with aliens.

"No! No! No! Noooo! Nononononono!" Jonny screamed to nobody as he was carried towards the aliens. The sisters put him down in front of one of the patches of tentacles. Immediately, the central tentacle rose out of all the others, and morphed into what looked like a claw big enough to grab Jonny by the head. And that's just what it did, putting the ends of the claw into his ears, and morphing around his brain.

_What is your name? Where do you live? What are your friends' names? Where do you keep your food? _All these questions and more were being bombarded at Jonny all at once. But he didn't answer out loud, for the alien seemed to be sucking the answers out of his mind. After about five minutes, there wasn't anything left to be handed over. The mold covering his brain began to change, going inside of his brain, and giving Jonny commands.

_You will bring other people to this spot. You will use force if necessary. You will convince as many life forms as possible._

These messages were repeated over and over in Jonny's mind, until he was saying them out loud. He did not notice that his skin pigments were changing from a light brown to a silver shine. He did not notice that he was taking off all of his clothes, touching them to the tentacles, and putting them back on.

"I will bring other people to this spot." the altered Jonny said quietly, with his voice changed to be smoother. He went to pick up his wooden pal, and touched the board to a tentacle. Plank instantly changed colors, becoming a dark blue with light blue eyes. Jonny carried Plank to the cul-de-sac, with only one thought in his mind: He must secure this planet for his leader, the Great Mother.

"Okay, everyone is here except for Jonny?" Edd asked nervously. He already lost a friend to the aliens, and the invasion had only lasted 12 hours. At the rate it was going, Earth would be conquered within a year. How long did he have before he was taken, just like his bald friend?

"Yeah…so…What are we gonna do with her?" Kevin said bluntly. He had no idea why Edd had brought her. She had tried to knock them all out, but Kevin, Ed, and Eddy managed to knock her out so that Edd could tie her onto an ironing board.

"Well, I thought we could manage to get her into telling us how she was captured, and possibly some information about the aliens." Edd stated as though it was as simple as the first letter of the alphabet.

"Oh…so, how do we get our information?" Eddy asked, his head cocked to the side. At that moment, Lee awoke on the ironing board, realized what had happened, and began to thrash around.

"I would suggest serious shock." Edd said, awkwardly pushing Eddy towards her.

"What are you trying to…Oh…NO!" Eddy screamed with a look of comprehension and disgust on his face. He wasn't going to do that. Not for all the jawbreakers in the world.

"Eddy, our planet depends on it!" Edd whined. Eddy had to do it, he just had to.

"But…but…oh, alright." Eddy pouted. He walked forward to the ironing board and Lee, took in a deep breath, leaned in, and kissed her. On the lips. Gross.

When Eddy recoiled, Lee was no longer gray, but her hair and clothes were still the opposite of their usual tone.

"What the? What am I doing here?" she shouted, anger in her hidden eyes.

"Lee! Quickly, we must hurry. What do you remember before this?" Edd asked, a notepad in his hands.

"What? Oh, okay…Well, last night, we heard a crash, but we just thought it was a scam of yours. But when I was waking up May to make us pancakes, we heard a lot of screaming, so we went to check it out. We saw weird tentacle plants in a clearing, and May went to touch one, and it grabbed her by the ears, and for about 5 minutes, she just sat there without any expression. Then she went all weird, she started mumbling weird stuff and changed colors. She took off her clothes and touched them to a tentacle and the clothes, like, changed color, like opposite. Then the tentacle let go of her, and she just laid there, on her stomach. Then, she jumped up and pushed us towards to of the plants…it was really weird…It was like the plants were interrogating us, then these weird messages were playing in our minds, and it was like hypnosis or mind control…I can remember everything there, but it felt like it was a thousand years ago…" she ranted.

"Interesting…But this still doesn't answer my question: Is this a major threat?" Edd whispered, more to himself than anybody else. Then he clapped his hands together. "Everyone, we need to brainstorm. Write all your ideas down and hand them to me before you leave for bed…I pray this doesn't mentally scar us for life. In doubt my prayer will become a miracle."


	3. The Launch

As the time of 9:00 fell upon the cul-de-sac, everybody was forced to leave Edd's garage. They all handed in their notes of ideas to check if the aliens were a major threat or not, then bade Edd goodnight.

"Uh, not you two, Ed, Eddy. You are to stay with me to review these and help me think of other ideas." Edd commanded, pointing to his best friends. "Everyone else, tell Nazz, Sarah, Jimmy, and Rolf what's going on, and to report here tomorrow at 10:00 AM." Everybody else lifted the garage door, and cautiously led themselves back to their houses. Edd, Ed, and Eddy, however, closed the door as fast as possible, and walked over into Edd's bedroom (after taking off their shoes).

"Hmm…a rocket…no…surrender ourselves…no…eat hamburgers? No!" Edd scanned the notes all the kids had made, and laid down on his bed, annoyed. He had thought the kids were smarter than this.

"Double D, it's probably gonna be you who figures out a way to test these aliens. So what's the point of asking all the other kids?" Eddy asked, a bored look on his face.

"I don't know…the only thing I came up with was a theory…the…photobooth theory, if you will. My theory is that when you go into this alien photobooth, your picture becomes negative, as are you." Edd explained. That theory had taken him about an hour to develop…He wondered if he should have been thinking of a way to test the aliens.

"Well, okay…now…I'm gonna go home, and so is Ed, and when we come back tomorrow, you **are** going to have a plan. I know it." Eddy said, his hand on Edd's shoulder. "Everyone in the cul-de-sac knows that you're a genius. If anybody is gonna create a plan of defense, it'll be you. And Ed and I'll be there to help you kick those aliens back to wherever they came from. See you tomorrow." Edd had his eyes closed, but he heard all this, and the small slam of his door as his friends left. They all thought he was a genius…that was no surprise…but they still thought he could save the Earth…that was news to him…But how could he save a whole planet? Millions of lives…innocent people…and if he didn't stop the aliens, they would all be taken because of him…The only way to classify this would be to wait at least 15 years. But by that time North America could be taken…

Edd sat up, unaware that he had slept while thinking of all this, hid dreams of himself thinking of ideas. He had a perfect idea, an ingenious idea, and an idea that could save the Earth. Edd rushed through his morning routine, wanting nothing more but for 10:00 to arrive. When he finished his routine, it was only 8:00. He waited, he paced, he read, he wrote, he drew; he did anything to get to 10:00. Finally, it came with a large bang on his garage door. Edd investigated, and found all the un-infected kids waiting outside his garage.

"Ah, everybody! You're here! I have an idea of how to check how to determine the threat level of these aliens. I don't know a way to fight them yet, but I will create one soon enough." Edd began, a smile on his face. "My idea is to create a time machine, which will take Ed, Eddy and I to Peach Creek, Minnesota, in 15 years. We will look around at the people, and the clearing where the alien spawns are. If the amount of seeds is extremely large, we will come back here and find a way to kill the alien plants. If the amount of seeds is the same, we will come back and simply put up a barrier, where the seeds will most likely wither away…I find the latter unlikely." Silence met this new idea, a response he had expected.

"Soooo…what do we do now?" Kevin asked, trying to get to the point.

"I'm glad you asked. I have created some blueprints for a time machine, and I need you all to help me. If we work with minimum breaks starting at 10:30, we should be able to finish tomorrow around noon." Edd directed, clapping his hands together. "Now, we should start getting the supplies…"

That day, work happened for all the uninfected kids except for Lee, as Edd said that she could revert to alienism at any minute. Kevin and Rolf were in charge of all the heavy lifting, Ed was in charge of an outer design; Eddy was supposed to help Ed and Edd. Nazz, Sarah, and Jimmy helped with hooking up small wires and parts, and Edd directed them all while making the main engine and chamber. By 9:00, the mass of random objects had thinned, and its old contents were assembled into a large booth made of steel with a door that could be vacuum sealed connected to what looked like a gigantic car engine. As all the kids went back to their homes, Edd only returning upstairs to his room, a dark shadow moved into Double D's closing garage. The figure walked up to the machine engine, and took a small gear like object out of its shirt. The mysterious person began to take apart the engine as quietly as possible, not to wake Lee. Eventually, the figure seemed to have found what he was looking for, and took it out of its place, replacing it with the object it pulled out of its shirt. As quiet as ever, the figure fixed what he had broken, taking care to put the gear that had originally been in the machine in his shirt. Then, the stranger picked up the garage door and closed it again, after he was outside. Silently, the figure ran back to the alien infested clearing, putting the gear before one of the tentacle clumps. The stranger bowed slightly and sat underneath one of the clumps, letting the main tentacle go into its ears and into its brains, enjoying the sensation. The alien transferred a thought to the figure: _You have done well. The rebels to the Intergalactic Empire will be ours by tomorrow._

The next day, the kids worked for about 2 hours, mainly doing a paint job on what was now a bathroom-sized booth connected to what looked like a clothes washer. By 12:30, the paint job was complete. The booth was covered with clocks and stars and fire, while the engine case was a mess of all different colors, as Eddy and Jimmy had differences about their ideas.

"Well, everyone, I must thank you for your help of building this scientific feat." Edd declared, beaming. "There will be a distortion of time on our journey. For you, it may seem that we are gone for a second. For us, we may be gone for days, weeks, moths, years, decades, centuries or even millennia. This machine can distort time for people not using it. Anyways, I gave my small speech, so here's Eddy." Eddy walked up to the spot where Double D previously stood and made his small farewell speech.

"Uh…um…well…uh…" Eddy stuttered nervously. He had no idea what he should say; these kids had hated him ever since he tried pulling his first scam. "Erm…thanks for helping us make this machine…Um…A-WAP-BA-BA-LU-MOP!"

"A-WOP-BAM-BOOM!" the kids answered. The phrase was really old, like 40 years old, but it was a classic phrase. Eddy stepped away as Ed stepped to the speech area.

"Baby sister and friends, if we do not come back, remember us as we are, and think of my last words fondly: BUTTERED TOAST, GRAVY, AND CHICKENS!"

At this, everybody cheered as though Ed had just made a special speech at the White House. The Eds walked into the vacuum sealed room, their heads held high, and their minds racing. Edd walked back to the door, waved goodbye, and sealed the room. Inside of the chamber was a sterile white room with 5 chairs set up all around the room. On the wall opposite the door was a tablet with a large screen and many colorful buttons and dials.

"Well, here we go. Now, I ask you both to take a seat, and put on the seatbelts that we set up." Edd instructed, walking over to the tablet. Here, he pushed 3 buttons, set a few dials and punched a very large button. Then he walked over to one of the chairs and put on his seatbelt.

"So…what is this gonna feel like?" Eddy asked nervously. "Is it gonna hurt?"

"To put it in simple terms, I have absolutely no idea." Edd said cheerfully. "T-minus 5 seconds…4…3…2…1!"

A silent moment. Hearts racing, minds still. Then, a sensation of being inflated with air happened to all of them for about a minute. Then it abruptly changed for each of the Eds. Ed suddenly had a really bad pain in his head, while Edd's muscles felt as though they were on fire. Eddy, however, was felling like he was seeing everything sped up then slowed down, sped up, over and over again. Suddenly the machine seemed to lurch to the side, like it was going through a maze and was running away from a moving obstacle. The numbers and words on the screen changed to a picture of Jonny, still alienized.

"Oh, hello. Enjoying your trip?" the altered Jonny snarled. He looked overjoyed, which made him look even less human.

"Jonny!" Edd shouted, anger showing in his eyes. "What did you do to this machine?"

"Oh, nothing much, just a little experimental cog. It is supposed to make your destination time correct, but place incorrect…although, there might be a few aftereffects."

"You rotten little baldy!" Eddy shouted, even though it felt like it took him a year to say it.

"Oh, well, I must be going. Enjoy your detour." Jonny stated, looking at his hand. The image of the discolored bald child vanished, to be replaced with the old numbers and words. About an instant later, the machine toppled to another side, then lay still. The kids didn't move for about a minute, fearing that they would open the door and see a distant planet. Then, Double D cautiously walked to the door, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

Blinding sunlight met his eyes. He walked outside, his hands over his eyes, more to protect them than anything. He assumed that he was not on a sun, as he would have been disintegrated upon touch. When the light had adjusted his eyes, Edd looked around. He was in a cul-de-sac, not unlike his own. The houses seemed to be home to kids his age and younger. He found the house where he would have been in and walked to it.

"Ed! Eddy! Come over here!" Edd called, nervously chewing his lower lip. "I found a place where we could most likely hide out!" The three Eds walked forward to the house at the end of the court, stopping at the door.

"What do ya figure?" Eddy asked bluntly. He wanted to know whether or not the door was locked or not. Edd reached forward for the elaborate door handle, pulled the trigger, and pushed forward. Fortunately, the door was unlocked. The Eds walked inside of the house to find a normal looking domain. The carpet was a beige color, the walls were unpainted, and there was a light wood trim on the staircase. As they looked around, curious, they found a couch and a stuffed chair in a space next to the door, and a painting above both. The Eds decided to go forward, so they walked past the stairs, past a small closet, past a large table, and into a kitchen, dining room, and family room.

The kitchen was covered in cabinets of varying sizes and shapes, and in the middle of the kitchen sat an island. The dining room wasn't much, just a circular table with four chairs sitting next to a desk with a sleek looking computer on it. The family room was another carpeted room, with a very large TV and a large green couch. Behind the couch was a desk with was overflowing with files. Next to the TV stood a fireplace with a screen in front of the grate. In front of that was an ottoman, with a mess of different colored stripes. In front of the ottoman was a large case, probably for a musical instrument. In this enormous room were 3 regular looking doors, one in the kitchen, one in the family room, and one in the dining room.

The Eds stood around, admiring the futuristic scene, until they heard a noise that meant someone was unlocking the front door. The Eds scrambled, trying to find a door that they could stay hidden away behind. Ed finally grabbed them all and stuffed them into the room behind the door in the kitchen, just in time for the owner of the house to enter.

"Okay, now, nobody move, nor make a sound!" Edd whispered nervously. "If we stay hidden until nightfall, we just might make it outta here alive!"


	4. Discoveries

How long the Eds stood in the dark pantry was beyond them; Eddy and Edd had left their watches at home, and Ed's watch on the sole on his foot would be impossible to reach in this confined space. The Eds only stood there, looking at the food inside the pantry. The people who lived here obviously were on a diet, for the junk food was made with dark chocolate and natural ingredients. Eddy could see that kids lived here, but probably teenagers, mature ones, for the candy on a shelf was limited, as though Halloween had been at least 3 months earlier, or the kids weren't hunters of a ton of candy. Ed could only see Double D standing next to him, shaking with fear. Ed knew that Edd was afraid, that was his trait. Ed himself was afraid, but not too afraid. He only was afraid that if he was killed or assimilated, Sarah would tell mom. That was worse than anything. Edd could only see the door and the shadows underneath it, which could show him where people were in the house. He did the math in his head; the sun was slightly descending, so it would be around 3 or 4 PM. That meant that the person coming home was most likely a kid or a teenager.

"Okay…so…gotta do math, urg…umm…then history…and that science worksheet." A male voice audibly mumbled from outside the pantry. "Okay, I did the science and history in study hall, and I can do the math tomorrow morning, cuz it's Wednesday." The shadow from the boy moved to where the computer was, and there was a noise like a metal chair moving, and the shadow widened as what they assumed to be a metal chair squeaked from under his weight.

"Oh, man…I'm hungry…Oh, wait, we made cookies last night! Score!" the kid mumbled loudly. The shadow moved closer and closer, finally stopping at the pantry. In one swift motion, the door opened.

Although the kids only looked at each other for a fraction of a second, it seemed an eternity. But just like that, it ended with a single exclamation.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the kid screamed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" the Eds responded. This went on for about 30 seconds until the kid finally stopped and held his hand to his chest. During the time in which he caught his breath, the Eds looked him over.

The kid wasn't alienized, that was for sure. The kid was very pale, like he could be burned by stepping into the sun. The kid had a dark blonde mess of hair on his head; it looked like it had just been ruffled up. His eyes were surprisingly blue, as though they had faded and been repainted that very day. His clothes were very strange; he was wearing a colorful jacket over a black skulled t-shirt, along with a pair of navy blue jeans.

The kid seemed to compose himself, because he looked up with a hard expression. He took in a very deep breath and let it go.

"Okay…all of you, follow me…now." The kid spoke, his voice trying to hide his anger. He walked out of the room up the stairs, past a hall and into a room, closely followed by the Eds. When the Eds entered the room, they saw a mess of things: magazines, a huge bookshelf, small block-like toys and two footlong robots. The kid pointed to a bed as turquoise as Double D's candy dye coated tongue, which they assumed meant to sit down upon it. The kid seemed to be looking for something underneath a mess of papers and electronics. It seemed he found it, and so he turned around, holding a very sharp toy sword in his hand, pointing at Eddy, Edd and Ed in turn.

"Unless you'd like to die, I suggest you answer a few questions. 1: What are you doing in my house? 2: Who the hell are you? And 3: Who are you working for?" the kid said quietly, anger in his quivering voice.

"Let me answer that. 1: We have time traveled here to investigate paranormal activity. We were weary from the journey, so we decided to enter a house and rest ourselves. 2: I am Edd, or Double D, as my friends call me, this is Ed, and this is Eddy." Edd explained.

"So you are alien hunters with the same name." the kid said doubtfully. Edd needed a way to convince this guy if he was ever going to get to Peach Creek.

"Yes we are. To answer 3: We are not working for anybody but ourselves. If you don't believe me, come outside with us, we'll show you our time machine." Edd said as though this was a normal conversation.

"Yeah, right." The kid said. "Okay, I'm calling your bluff. Take me to this machine." Edd told Ed and Eddy to stay, while he went with the mysterious kid to the machine. When Edd got to it, he turned to look at the stunned expression on the kid's face. It quickly changed to an accusing one.

"I don't believe it. Take me to…ancient Egypt." The kid said accusingly.

"No, I cannot take you to Egypt. However, if this is California, I can take you to the Gold Rush? But only if I can ask you for your sword." Edd replied. He knew that the plastic and paints in the sword could prove to be a nice replacement gear for the alien one that Jonny had put in the engine, at least for a few trips.

"My sword? Why would you need a toy sword?" the kid asked, his eyebrow raised.

"It would serve as a replacement for a gear that broke during our original journey." Edd stated simply.

"Okay, but only if you go get me a real sword." The kid bargained.

"Deal." Edd said, grabbing the sword, and walking over to the engine. He took off the cover and began to look inside of it. Finally, he found a gear that was supposed to be bright red, but was actually a shade of turquoise. Edd removed it and bent it into a circular shape. Then, he carefully placed the circle into the place where the cog was supposed to go. Edd replaced all the components into the engine and popped to cover on again. Then he pushed the boy into the chamber. Once again, he told his passenger to put on his seatbelt, and went over to the tablet. He punched in the coordinates for California, 1849. Quickly, Edd ran to his chair and put on his seatbelt. Once again came the sensation of being inflated like a balloon, and then it stopped. Edd opened the door to show the boy the outside world.

Outside was a scene of a lush town, with carriages and houses and other things that would be in an old fashioned town. Edd pointed to a man in the middle of the own who was shouting.

"Gold! Gold! They found gold at Sutter's Mill!" the man shouted. Edd closed the door and turned to his passenger, who was stunned. Edd went back to the pad, typed in the coordinates for California, 2010, and went back to his seat. The balloon sensation happened again and Edd and the kid walked out of the time machine.

"Oh my God…Okay, I believe you." The kid finally said. "By the way, my name's Sean. Spelled S-E-A-N, pronounced SH-AW-NN."

"Good to meet you." Edd said simply and walked back to the house, Sean walking in his wake.

An hour later, the Eds had told Sean about their adventure and what they were attempting to do. At first the story was interrupted with a lot of questions and scientific facts, but they gradually faded. By the end of the story, Sean had run out of questions to ask.

"Well, this ain't Minnesota, it's good old California. You could get a plane, but it costs like $700 a person…Maybe I could get a way to get you there that doesn't cost a million dollars. Could you turn the time machine into a solar car?" Sean suggested, a concentrated look on his face. He thought that if they could make a time machine that they could make a simple solar car.

"Solar car? Like the solar rovers on the moon? And Mars?" Edd asked curiously.

"Absolutely. Just only for a 4 or 5 person car." Sean explained.

"Okay, we can do that…but we'd need at least a week. Could we just drop in at your school?" Eddy asked.

"Uh, I guess so. If you need solar panels, I got a thief who has his elective in Advanced Tech, so he could steal a few solar panels." Sean said, scratching his head.

"Okay, we've given you our story; tell us what your school is like, who your friends are, that kinda stuff." Eddy stated bluntly.

"Alright…so, this is San Limon, California, and we're gonna be going to San Limon Middle School, or SLMS. Umm, it's mainly a place full of Asian brainiacs, so the GPA is extremely high. If you have a C or lower you'll need to have a parent teacher conference, which sucks. Uh…My best friend is Brandon Creamer, he's from New Jersey, and he's Lebanese. My other friends are Jacob Liu, Steve Harmer and a lot of others." Sean paused, his hand on his chin. "Umm, I got a sister, her name is Jessica. My parents are Rick and Rachel. Yeah, kind of a coincidence. Okay, I'm Jewish, and, in case you don't know, it's March 12, 2010."

The Eds were silent at the end of the short autobiography. This kid that they had met about an hour ago was now opening up about his entire life. That kinda thing causes awkward silences.

"So…what do we do for electives?" Eddy asked, puzzled.

"Uh, I dunno. Maybe you get to choose them." Sean replied. "Do any of you play a musical instrument?"

"Ed does, but not a lot, and I play the clarinet, flute, and a small amount of piano.' Edd said, looking at Sean's bookshelf. It was evident he liked to read fiction, mainly fantasy and sci-fi, realistic fiction.

"Well, I'm not sure about piano, but you could play the flute or clarinet." Sean said, shrugging.

"So what about Ed'n me?" Eddy asked bluntly.

"Umm, I dunno. We got Art, Home Ec, and a ton of other things." Sean replied, scratching his head. "Anyway, we got bigger problems to deal with. During your story, you said you each felt differently. There has to be a connection of that and the gear."

"Yeah, I know." Ed suddenly joined in. "All this time my head has been hurting and I hear what you guys are saying before you say it."

"Hmmm…that sounds like telepathy or ESP, which would explain your reaction to the gear." Edd said thoughtfully. "But what about Eddy and I? I felt as though I was having a million growing pains all around, but I haven't grown."

"Yeah, and I felt like time kept on changing tempo." Eddy contributed. "But time has been staying consistent. Maybe if I just concentrate on that moment…" At that moment, everybody but Eddy felt like that one second lasted longer than it should. The other kids couldn't move, but Eddy could. He looked at all of them, frozen in space while he was free to do whatever. Eddy walked downstairs, entered the pantry, and pulled out a Girl Scout Tagalong, ate it, and walked back upstairs, where he resumed his old position and focused on normal time speed.

Instantly, the kids returned to normal, and looked to Eddy.

"Okay, I can control time." Eddy declared, looking at his dumbstruck friends.

"Yes, I believe you can, for when you did, a single second felt like a minute." Edd agreed. "But what about me?"

"Hmmmm…. Maybe your muscles were adapting to carrying heavy objects?" Sean suggested. "I know a way to test it. I play euphonium in band, and the case is **extremely **heavy. If you can lift it like this," Sean did a motion like lifting weights "then we have proof." So the Eds and Sean walked down the stairs, and into the family room, where Sean had left his backpack and euphonium.

Edd walked forward to the case and laid down on the floor, asking Ed to put the case into his open arms. Surprisingly, it didn't cause him to have the wind knocked out of him. Edd easily found that he could lift it as easily as paper.

"Well, there we have it. You all got super powers, which I think are the beginning of a transformation, like your friend. Ed, you used to be a little dim, so now you have a level of superintelligence. Eddy, you used to be extremely impatient, so now you can pause time. And Edd, you used to be a weakling, but now you could probably lift a Hummer without any problem." Sean explained. He sighed. "I wish I could get a super power."

"Well, I guess we could, but it would be very dangerous. You might be alienized when you get back." Edd wondered aloud. "Maybe I could tinker with the gear so it doesn't choose a random location, but just stays in this area in different times, with the side effect." Edd ran outside to grab the cyan gear, which he came back holding in his hands.

"I can see what causes the random locations." Sean said, looking at the gear.

"How?" Edd asked, confused. Sean walked over to him and pointed to one of the spokes on the gear. On that particular spoke was a very small device that looked like a map of the entire world.

"I think it chooses random locations worldwide, so you were lucky to end up in the same country." Sean thought aloud. "So, I believe if we can change it to either take it off, or edit it to stay here, we can get super powers without risk. Maybe we can even choose our super powers!"

"Alright, but between this and the solar car, we'll be busy for at least a month or so." Edd said warningly.

"Oh, by the way, when it's ready, can I bring a friend, Brandon?" Sean questioned. It's just been his desire for years to have a super power."

"Maybe, if we convince him." Edd responded. "But by the sound of this school, I would rather keep it quiet. It sounds like if we told one person, we'd be called lunatics on our second day at school."

"Yeah, true dat." Sean replied.

"True dat?" Eddy questioned. "Is that a catch phrase or something?"

"Oh, man." Sean said, shaking his head. "I gotta teach you guys current slang, or we won't last a day without your cover being broken."

"Cover?" Edd asked.

"Yeah, we need a background check that seems real. Or else you'll go to the principal's office. Which is **not** a good thing, especially if you're in trouble. Just follow my lead tomorrow, and we might be able to pass you off as Minnesota kids who moved here. Also, one last thing. Do not questioned I anyone is Asian. 90% of the people there are."


End file.
